Scamfluencers - Rick & Rosario Ames: The Spy Who Told Too Much | 188

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

At the CIA, Rick Ames had a reputation as a middling agent with a drinking problem and a knack for skating by. But despite poor performance reviews, Rick just kept failing up. As he landed bigger and better assignments, he saw an opportunity to turn his access to Soviet-era secrets into cold, hard cash. For nearly a decade he sold classified intelligence to the KGB in exchange for a life of luxury with his wife, Rosario – who soon joined in on the betrayal. Together they pulled off one of the most devastating acts of espionage in U.S.history, harming CIA operations and costing countless lives before their luck finally ran out.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, scam influencers fans, Sachi here. If you live for the outrageous stories and unbelievable cons that we cover, you need Wendry Plus. It's like sitting in the room with us as we unravel every twist, ad free a week ahead of everyone else, and packed with exclusive content you won't hear anywhere else. Start your free trial in the Wendry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify now. Sachi, don't you think the genre of, like, spy movie, and TV shows are kind of skewed towards how overly competent they are. But really, there's no way it's as glamorous or chic as like James Bond or whatever.

I think most spies are probably pretty mundane people. That's how they're getting away with it, you know? Yeah, I mean, ultimately they are just government workers who, as we know from real life and this show, get away with quite a lot. I would be bad at that job. I would love to tell everybody everything. Well, today, I'm going to tell you the story of a double agent so gross and incompetent that he basically failed his way to the center of U.S. Russia relations during the Cold War.

And he did so much damage, even spy agencies had to admit they fucked up. It's a gloomy February morning in 1994 in an upscale neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia. Rosario Ames is putting on makeup while he's. her young son plays in the next room. Rosario is in her early 40s with dark eyes, a sharp jawline, and short curly hair. Her husband, Aldrich Ames,

who goes by Rick, walks into the room. He says he's been called into work even though it's President's Day weekend. Rosario probably isn't surprised. Rick's been a CIA agent for more than 30 years, and it's not unusual for him to work holidays. Rosario reaches for her usual dark red lipstick when the doorbell rings.

She tightens her robe and heads to the top of the stairs as the housekeeper answers the door. Standing outside are a man and a woman, both wearing suits. They tell Rosario that they're FBI agents and ask her to step outside. Then they share some shocking news. Her husband has just been arrested on charges of espionage. and they're here to arrest her, too. When Rosario looks out to the lawn, she sees that the house is surrounded by FBI vehicles.

This is like the best episode of Real Housewives in the world. This is Sprinter van on bath salts. I love it. Yes. And in a panic, Rosario runs up the stairs to the guest bedroom. She wakes up her mom and asks her to take care of her son. The agents tell Rosario to remove. her jewelry and leave her purse behind.

She tries hard not to cry as she promises her son that she'll be home soon. But Rosario likely knows that this is a lie, because for nearly a decade, Rick's been working as a double agent for the Soviet Union. He's been sharing CIA secrets that have sabotaged undercover operations and even gotten people killed. Rosario has known about this for the past two years. but instead of turning him in, she chose to help her husband hide his secrets.

As the agents escort Rosario out, she looks back at her beautiful house one last time. She knows things are about to change forever. Soon, everyone will learn that Rick didn't pay for their extravagant lifestyle with CIA paychecks. He paid for it by selling out his country. Despite being one of the most bumbling double-eastern, agents of all time, it took years for the CIA and the FBI to finally uncover Rick's

treason. And now that he's been caught, the damage he's caused, and the lives lost due to his crimes will cause a reckoning that will completely reshape U.S. intelligence forever. Hey, Ontario. Come on down to BetMGM Casino and see what our newest exclusive the Price's Right Fortune Pick has to offer. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show only at BetMGM. Check out how we've reimagined three of the show's iconic games like Plinko, Clifhanger and the Big Wheel into fun casino game features. Don't forget to download the BetMGM Casino app for exclusive access and excitement on the Price's Right Fortune Pick. Pull up a seat and experience the Price's Right Fortune pick only available at

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yourself. Join for free today. Just go to racketon.ca, download the app, or install the browser extension. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. From Wondery, I'm Sarah Haggy, and I'm Sachi Cole, and this is scamfluencers. Come and give me your attention, I won't ever learn my lesson, turn my speaker to 11, I feel like a legend. Throughout his career at the CIA, Rick Ames was known as a lazy, unmotivated drunk. He should have washed out, but despite poor performance reviews, he just kept failing up. He landed bigger and better assignments, and with them, access to classified secrets about the Soviet Union.

And when money got tight, he saw an opportunity to turn these secrets into cold, hard cash. For almost a decade, Rick sold government secrets to Russia's KGB in exchange for a comfortable upper-middle-class life with his beloved wife. And by the time he was finally arrested, Rick had done more harm to national security than any other agent in CIA history. This is Rick Ames, the spy who told too much. It's a summer of 1957 at the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and 16-year-old Rick Ames is sitting in a drab office.

He pushes his thick black glasses up his nose as he sifts through documents. We actually have a picture from Rick's high school yearbook. Sachi, can you describe him? Oh, yeah. He's a nerd. He's very buddy Holly. He's got thick glasses. His hair is slick back. He's got very big ears. He's a nerd. Yeah, he's pretty classic. And while some American teenagers spend their summers working in retail, Rick's just started a summer job as a record analyst for the CIA. Rick was born in a small Wisconsin town to two teachers. His mom taught English and his dad, Carl, Carl, was a college professor specializing in the history of Europe and Asia. But Carlton wasn't particularly well-liked. His coworkers thought he was boring and viewed him as a nepo baby.

Rick's grandfather was the president of the university. But everything changed five years earlier when Carlton was recruited by the CIA for his knowledge of Burmese affairs. Since then, the family has settled into a Virginia suburb not far from CIA headquarters. But Carlton isn't doing much better at his new job. He has a serious drinking problem, and he constantly gets negative reviews from his superiors.

He even gets placed on a six-month probationary period. But somehow, he never loses his job. At this time, the CIA is only a decade old. It's being run like an old boys' club. Between the culture of loyalty and a lack of, of external oversight, it's not so surprising that the CIA shuffles mediocre workers between departments instead of just firing them. Rick has a lot in common with his dad. They both love poetry, drama, and world history. But Rick doesn't want to follow in his dad's footsteps

professionally. He's in his high school's drama club and wants to pursue acting. Still, he can't turn down a cushy summer gig. Rick spends his last few summers of high school at the CIA before graduating in 1959. That August, he heads to the University of Chicago. He's technically a history major, but he's way more dedicated to the local theater scene. After spending more time on stage than in class, he flunks out of college in less than two years. Rick gets a job working as a technical director at a Chicago theater, but ultimately, he just isn't that talented. When his acting career stalls, he moves back to Virginia.

In 1962, 21-year-old Rick carries on the family tradition and uses nepotism to get hired as a typist at the CIA. And though it isn't his dream job, he likes the prestige that comes with it. It has a lot of things he probably enjoyed about theater, praise, and drama. He talks about the job's appeal to the New York Times a few years later. Sachi, can you read some of it? Yeah, he said, I felt proud and selected.

They made a great effort to cultivate a sense of being in the elite. Kids responded to that. Certainly I did. The ethics of espionage, of telling lies, cover stories. This didn't bother too many people. It didn't bother me. There was a sense of fun. This is so weird to have this level of detachment with the kind of work that you're doing,

when the work that you're doing is with the government and with like real people and like has a real human toll. He's just so cold about the work that he's in. Listen, I truly believe you cannot trust a failed actor who probably has a chip on their shoulder. Unfortunately, this new CIA gig is not the only way Rick is following in his father's footsteps. The same year Rick rejoins the CIA,

he gets arrested for intoxication. Rick spends five years as a typist while he takes college courses on the side. He needs, an actual degree if he wants to move up the CIA's ranks. In those five years, he gets arrested twice more for reckless driving and speeding, likely because of his heavy drinking. All to say, in his 20s, Rick is a bit of a mess.

But somehow, he manages to graduate in 1967. Yeah, utterly unsurprising. Give him the keys. Make him the president. Who cares? Yeah, obviously, Rick doesn't seem like the kind of guy who should be trusted to protect national security. He's sloppy and disorganized even when he's sober. And when he applies to the CIA's career trainee program to become an operative rather than a desk clerk, they conclude he lacks the

social skills needed to recruit new spies, an essential part of the job. Still, somehow, he gets in. Rick spends two years in the training program, and that's where he meets Nancy, a beautiful, blonde fellow trainee. She's everything Rick isn't, determined, and industrious. They fall in love and Rick's life as a CIA career man starts falling into place. In 1968, he graduates from the trainee program and the following year, he and Nancy get married. By the end of the 1960s, Rick seems to have everything a 28-year-old could ask for, a secure job, a college degree, and the love of his life. Even if he didn't work particularly hard for any of it. But as he

settles into the CIA, he'll get a taste of a life of luxury, which kicks off his never-ending quest for more. It's December of 1974, six years into Rick's tenure as a CIA agent. At the office

Christmas party in Washington, D.C., jingle bells plays as agents and their spouses sip cocktails and chat about their holiday plans. But Rick's not just sipping. As usual, he's a guy who's embarrassingly drunk at a work party. A security guard is casually making the rounds when he walks in on Rick in a compromising position,

not with his wife Nancy, but with another female CIA agent. Sarah, you know I think everybody should get a divorce. I do think in this case, Nancy, should also kill him. Well, she definitely has a skills. Rick and Nancy returned to D.C. two years ago after spending three years in Turkey, where Rick was posted as an operations officer. His job was to recruit Soviet informants, but during his time there, Rick apparently didn't recruit a single person.

Maybe people didn't trust him, maybe he was just lazy, or maybe it's a combination of both. Either way, the CIA Boys Club culture is still in effect. So instead of being fired, Rick was brought back to Virginia to work a desk job. His coworkers all see that he's underperforming, but Rick apparently does not. Instead, he's becoming resentful. The way he sees it, he's underappreciated and underutilized. Anytime you work with a guy who says that he is underappreciated and underutilized,

he is a super villain. There are no men in any workplaces being underappreciated. Underutilized maybe, but they are not being underappreciated. No, not at all. Not remotely. I feel like it is the biggest red flag. But surprisingly, Rick is actually decent at his new desk job and gets good performance reviews for the first time in his life. But he still has a reputation for being messy.

He's constantly drunk, his clothes are always disheveled, and his teeth are rotting. And now, he's been caught fooling around with a colleague at a work party. But in 1976, Rick gets another chance to prove himself. He's assigned to the CIA's Manhattan office, where, for the first time, he'll actually work as a spy. His job is to meet Russians working for the United Nations and pump them for information. To fit the part, the CIA gives Rick a new identity as a successful Manhattan businessman. He moves into a subsidized luxury apartment and is given a generous entertainment allowance.

He treats himself to fancy dinners and nights out, all in the name of getting closer to his targets. But he fumbles a bag almost immediately. In his first year on the job, he leaves a briefcase full of classified documents on the subway. Still, during his time in New York, he receives the highest performance reviews of his entire career. Rick is on the rise. Meanwhile, Nancy's CIA career has stalled out. Things got complicated after she married Rick. Some people say the CIA forbade romantic relationships between colleagues,

but Nancy was also frustrated after repeatedly hitting the glass ceiling. By the time they get to New York, she's left the CIA. I mean, you know what I'm going to say. Women who get married tend to be less fulfilled at work. They make less money. they have a harder time getting career development. She should divorce him, and then she should kill him, and then she should eat his bones.

Yes, I mean, it's no secret that being an ambitious woman is the most punishable crime of all time, right? Nothing worse than a woman who is trying. Well, it's the CIA's loss. Nancy finds a fancy new job in New York. She and Rick are living large, but their relationship is becoming increasingly strained. Rick is growing resentful that he has to keep turning down overseas assignments

so Nancy can stay in New York. But this changes in 1981 when Rick is rewarded with a coveted international position in Mexico City. Rick is sick of turning down plum assignments, but Nancy is adamant about keeping her New York City life. So the two make a pact. She'll stay behind and they'll try a long-distance marriage. Rick is setting out on his own in Mexico City,

and there, away from his increasingly distant wife, he'll meet another woman who will change the course of his career and inspire him to chase even bigger, more expensive dreams. It's late 1982 in Mexico City. Maria del Rosario Casas Dupuis, who goes by Rosario, is sipping a cocktail at a party for, diplomats stationed in the city. Rosario is a cultural attache at the Colombian embassy.

She's an extremely smart, charming, and worldly 29-year-old with a long, angular face, dark brown eyes, and big curly hair. She's from Columbia and has an impressive resume. She spent a year studying at Princeton, speaks five languages, and is working on a PhD in literature. But she's also got a big secret. Rosario was recently recruited by the CIA as a paid informant to get dirt on other diplomats without the Colombian government knowing anything about it.

At the party, a CIA employee introduces Rosario to her new case officer, Rick Ames. Okay, quite the gruesome too, some. I'm into it. I feel like they're somehow going to get in trouble together. You know, I think they both have a lot of integrity, so probably not, right? At this point, Rick is 40 years old and still a bit of a mess. Since leaving New York, he slipped back into his old lackluster ways. He's already had at least three affairs, and at the embassy, he's known as a drunken sad sack.

Not long after getting to Mexico, he got into another drunk driving accident, and he frequently has drunken arguments with other diplomats. His superior tells Rick he should, should get assessed for alcohol addiction when he gets back to the States. But Rick just constantly complains that his bosses don't respect him. Regardless of this high-key loser energy, Rosario is immediately smitten by Rick, the duo launch an illicit romance.

I guess being bad at your job doesn't mean you're bad with women. And we actually have a picture of them from around this time. Sachi, please observe. All right, so he still looks at. like a nerd. He's just like a skinny white guy with, uh, you know, glasses and a Sesame Street ass mustache. She's the hottest woman in the world. She's shaped like a glass Coke bottle. I understand what he's getting out of it. I'm a little unclear on what it is in it for her. Yeah, I mean, 29-year-olds. What can you say? What can you say?

If it sounds like a conflict of interest for Rick to date Rosario, that's because it's It is. For obvious reasons, CIA case officers are prohibited from having relationships with their agents or with foreign nationals. At the very least, they should report the relationship to their superiors. But Rick seems to have no problem putting his personal desires over the needs of national security. Later, Rosario claims she didn't even know Rick was a CIA agent until after they started dating, which seems hard to believe, especially given that,

According to CIA gossip, Rick and Rosario apparently hook up in the CIA safe house in Mexico City. This is like an episode from Get Smart that never made it to air because it didn't test well. Yeah, and the male lead is disgusting. I don't think you want to fuck Maxwell Smart either. Yeah, but he doesn't have rotten teeth. That's true. Before long, the pair are so in love that Rick is ready to settle down. for real. So he proposes marriage.

Rosario is ecstatic and says yes, even though she knows about Rick's wife. They figure that's a problem for later. But about a year into their romance, reality comes knocking. Rick's former boss calls him back to the Virginia headquarters for a new assignment. And Rosario is so in love that she gives up her diplomat job to follow him. Rosario is excited to start her life in the U.S. with Rick. And Rick just wants Rosario to be happy and comfortable. He'll do anything to build his dream life with his new fiancé, no matter who he has to hurt in the process.

It's late 1984 at CIA headquarters in Virginia. Rick sits in his office and aimlessly leaves through a document about the KGB. Rick, now 43, has been back in Virginia for a year. And things are going well for him. He's sharing an apartment with his fiancé Rosario, and he's got yet another fancy job title, despite his many missteps and lackluster performance in Mexico. A 1994 Los Angeles Times article about Rick sums it up better than we can.

Sachi, can you read some of it? Yes, they write, Despite his struggles with his career, Ames returned to Washington and was inexplicably promoted to the prestigious post of head of Soviet counterintelligence. they're just giving jobs away over there. They were just letting anybody do anything. They have like a bingo spinning thing

and they just pull out a job. And it's like, okay, Rick, there you go. I want one. So Rick is now overseeing all American efforts against the Soviet Union. The promotion baffles some of his colleagues, but it seems like it's mostly designed to keep him out of trouble. He's back behind a desk

and while he has access to some of the CIA most sensitive Soviet cases, he's no longer in the field carrying out operations or leaving classified information on public transit. Rick should be grateful for everything he has, but he just wants more.

More respect, more money, more power. He's been at the CIA for 22 years and resents being locked away in an office. His frustration is a little detached from reality. While Rick thinks he does, deserves better. He was involved in two security breaches in the past year alone. His colleagues don't even think he deserves his current role. But the thing driving most of Rick's frustration right now

is money. He's going through an expensive divorce from Nancy and struggling to pay for his new life with Rosario. Rick is unwilling to give up the lifestyle he thinks they both deserve, and he's already gone into debt furnishing their new home. Around this time, Rick gets a new assignment to build relationships with KGB officers in the hopes of recruiting them to become double agents. But Rick's mounting financial issues and growing resentment towards the CIA

creates the perfect storm. He cares more about making extra money than he does about the actual work. And as soon as he realizes how valuable his new access is, he starts scheming. Rick has never been motivated by the geopolitical implications of his job, but he's about to prove he can take initiative when it benefits him personally. Rick is about to sell out his country and put real lives at risk,

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It's April 1985 in Washington, D.C. A slightly tipsy Rick is standing outside of the Russian embassy holding a plastic bag containing one item, an envelope. Rick's been with the CIA for more than two decades now, and through all the ups and downs, he's been loyal. But today, he's about to betray his longtime employers and his longtime employers and his country. For about a year, Rick's been using a fake identity to meet regularly with a KGB officer trying to get intel about Russians infiltrating the U.S. But recently, he met a Soviet embassy

official named Sergei Chuvakin. Sergey is slim with a square jaw and perfectly swept brown hair. To be clear, Sergey isn't a CIA ally. He's just a regular Russian diplomat. But Rick sees him as an opportunity to make some money. Tensions are running high between the U.S. and the USSR right now. The CIA and the FBI are trying to recruit Soviet spies to work as double agents for Operation Courtship, the U.S.'s plan to infiltrate Russian operations in Washington. And this gives Rick an idea. Rick takes a deep breath and walks directly into the Russian embassy.

When Sergei, his new contact approaches, Rick silently hands over an envelope and leaves. Inside is a letter addressed to the highest-ranking KGB officer Rick knows of, and it names two of the Soviets turned FBI agents, which is a major breach. In one move, Rick has compromised any operations using these agents and put their lives at risk, because the KGB does not tolerate traitors.

And to prove he's legit, Rick includes details about his job at the CIA and his actual name, which is basically unheard of in the world of spies for obvious reasons. And finally, he makes a request for $50,000. Is this the dumbest man in America? He's a worse spy than Inspector Gadget.

Inspector Gadget had gadgets. Everybody knew it was Inspector Gadget, not a very good spy, but he had like a hat that became a helicopter. He takes nothing seriously. Rick is like, if Mr. Magoo was a drunk spy, I don't even know how to describe it. And he justifies this massive security breach by telling himself that these people are probably triple agents,

Russians who are just pretending to be on America's side, but who actually report information back to the KGB. So he doesn't feel, too bad about whatever happens to them. He's more concerned with cashing in on this intel. And it works. A few weeks later, Rick meets Sergei again, and he hands a Rick $50,000 in cash.

Rick later claims he planned this as a one-time thing, that he just sell a few names to get himself and Rosario out of debt. But this first breach proved to him how easy it is to work as a double agent. And now he wants more. Getting out of dead is nice, but a life of luxury is even better. He's already dreaming of fancy cars, nice clothes, and a mansion for him and Rosario. Sachi, can you read what he says years later in an investigative interview with an Arizona state senator? Yeah, he says, I'm still puzzled as to what took me to the next steps.

The main factor, on balance, I think, was a realization after I had received the $50,000, was a sense of the enormity of what I had done. But certainly underlying it was the conviction that there was as much money as I could ever use. We've already talked before about how detached this guy is from what he's doing. He's like, oh, I don't know what made me do it. I don't know how I got there.

I just realized that I had done it and it was a huge crime. And also it was super easy. Why wouldn't I have done it? Yes. And in the same interview, Rick casually says that all of this stems from his overreaction to being in debt. But now that he's started working with the Russians,

he's in way over his head. And soon, his actions will have deadly consequences for the spies he's selling out. It's June of 1985, and Rick is walking out of the CIA headquarters with several plastic bags. Though his hair is thinning and gray, Rick looks more or less the same as he did

when he started at the CIA. But despite appearances, things have changed. It's been two months since Rick sold out two Soviet double agents in exchange for $50,000 in cash. It's worth noting that Rosario is apparently unaware of this. She says that Rick simply told her he got a windfall from an old investment. Rick finally paid off his debts, and so far, nothing bad has happened. So today, he's upping the ante by a lot. The bags he's carrying contain about six pounds of documents, all filled with top-secret CIA information,

including the names of more than 10 Soviet double agents working for the CIA and FBI. And to be very clear, this was completely unprompted. The KGB didn't ask Rick to bring them more information, but Rick's grown increasingly frustrated with his work at the CIA. After decades of service, he's still making less than $70,000 per year. So he tells himself he deserves whatever the Russians are willing to give him. To keep the cash flowing, he's selling off a mountain of information that could jeopardize U.S. operations and get people killed.

Some later speculate that Rick panicked, realizing that any Soviet intelligence officers secretly working for the United States might discover his betrayal. So, to cover his tracks, he betrays all of them, knowing that the Russian government would kill them all. Rick cares more about covering his ass and lining his pockets than protecting the lives of CIA operatives. This guy is like evil Mr. Magoo. He is not asked to bring any of this. He's like, but I'm going to because I'm disgruntled at work.

And then his plan is like, oh, they'll just kill each other and then I won't be held accountable for anything. It's so dumb and so monstrous. He really is just not thinking about the global implications in a real way. And once again, Rick simply walks into the Russian embassy and hands his package to Sergei. In response, the KGB tells him they've set aside $2 million that they'll pay out in installments for his continued cooperation. That's worth about $6 million today. For the next few months, Rick keeps leaking CIA secrets and the Russian government keeps paying him,

usually between $20,000 and $50,000 at a time. But back at Langley, things are unraveling. Remember those two double agents Rick initially sold out for $50,000? Well, they were legitimately on the CIA side. Rick was wrong about them being triple agents. And now, because of Rick, they've both been ordered back to Russia where they will be executed. It's not clear when Rick learns that his betrayal has deadly consequences, but when the information does get back to him, he doesn't feel guilty at all. He's been blinded by power and

money, and the fallout is far from over. Slowly, other people from the six-pound stack of documents Rick sold also start to disappear. At this point, it's clear to the CIA that they have a mole as they start investigating Rick panics. After only a few months of working with the Soviets, it seems like it's all about to come crashing down. And soon, a new double agent will give the CIA its first lead. It's August 1985, four months into Rick's double life.

He's sitting in his office sweating because the CIA just announced that a KGB officer named Jorchenko has defected. He's the highest-ranking Soviet officer to ever become a double agent. This is a huge deal. The CIA is usually too scared of harsh retaliation from the Soviet Union to pursue KGB officers. But Rick isn't celebrating because Jorchenko says he knows all about the CIA's mole. Rick's never worked with him directly, but Yorchenko was high up at the KGB, so he probably knows all about Rick's double-crossing.

Rick feels sick until Jorchenko starts talking. He reveals details about the mole, and it's not Rick. In an incredible stroke of luck, there happens to be another mole in the CIA Soviet division, a man who sold CIA secrets to the KGB after being fired, a few years earlier. The CIA is satisfied they found the source of their leak, and everyone moves on.

Okay, so this is a great time for him to stop doing this, right? Because he could conceivably get away with everything? Yeah, but I bet he doesn't. Something tells me he won't. Why would the dumbest spy alive learn any single thing? Rick is just relieved, and he has even more to celebrate, because after two years, his divorce from Nancy is finalized.

It's unclear why it took so long, but Rick is more than ready to move on. He and Rosario get married 10 days later, and all the while, Rosario allegedly still doesn't know about Rick's secret second job. Everything is falling into place. And as his office mourns their fallen Russian colleagues and celebrates the capture of the mole,

Rick goes right back. to selling CIA secrets. Apparently, he doesn't have much remorse for the fact that he caused those deaths. In an interview with the New York Times years later, he says he mainly regrets giving away all the names at once because the KGB killed them all in quick succession, making it obvious a mole was to blame.

Okay, so Rick isn't even bothering with his word salad anymore to excuse what he's done. He doesn't regret it. he only regrets being caught. Incredible. Yes. And around this time, Rick gets a swanky new placement in Rome. His colleagues are furious because Rick just placed in the bottom quarter of his class in an annual assessment. So some see this move as an unearned promotion. We don't know why the CIA chose Rick for the job, but either way, he and Rosario are thrilled about their new adventure in

Italy. They enroll in Italian classes and start dreaming up their Roman holiday. Rick's excited to be in Europe, for the glamour of it all, but also because it'll be easier for him to work directly with the KGB. In the U.S., all of the CIA's meetings were monitored closely by the FBI. Rick had to report every interaction he had with the sources and every time he visited an embassy, which, of course, he lied about. But away from the FBI's watchful eye, Rick can now work more freely as a mole. Oh, well, thank God, I mean, he was under such restrictions before when he was bringing people bags of names. Yeah, you know, I think Rick deserves to let his hair down and just freely be a mole and, you know, have peace, right? And to their credit, the CIA and FBI both noticed that Rick isn't submitting as many reports about his KGB meetings as he's supposed to.

They ask him to be more thorough, but their concerns seem to fall through the cracks, possibly because of poor communication between the CIA and the FBI around this time. So nothing changes. Rick continues selling off CIA secrets from across the Atlantic, but back at CIA headquarters, alarm bells are about to start ringing. People are starting to realize they have another mole on their hands. And this time, all signs will point straight, to Rick.

It's a summer of 1989. Rick's been living in Rome for three years now, and he and Rosario are living their dream life. Rosario had a baby last year, who they named Paul. But even though he's a father now, Rick's still selling secrets to the KGB. By now, the Soviets have paid Rick

around $1.8 million in total, and they've told him they have another $900,000 set aside for any future secrets he wants to share. Oh, they have? How generous. I know. I love that this is like a business deal where it's like, give it to us in bulk and we'll pay you this much. Peacemeal, it's this. Yeah, like, it's like a Costco deal for state secrets. I didn't know it was this easy. You could just call up and be like, I have stuff to give you. Yeah, it all seems pretty simple and things feel as stable as they can when you're a double agent.

So Rick's been splashing out. He buys a flashy red jaguar. He got a bag and fixed his teeth, at least the top row. And he started wearing $600 genuine leather Italian loafers. He's living the high life he's always dreamed of. The only thing Rick has to worry about is hiding all the money he's pulling in. He's splitting it between multiple American bank accounts, including some in Rosario's name, in addition to one in Italy and three accounts in Switzerland.

As they later tell it, Rosario somehow still has no clue there's anything fishy going on. Rick allegedly kept telling her the money was from investments, but because these investments are kind of shady, she shouldn't tell anyone about them. But he does encourage her to spend the money freely, so she doesn't seem to worry too much about where it comes from. When anyone asks how they're wealthy, they just say that Rosario's family is rich.

Since they're all back in Colombia, no one's able to fact check. I do think you could probably do a little fact-checking. I know it's the late 80s and nobody has Facebook yet, but I think you could maybe do a little recon. I bet some people were suspicious. Yeah.

But later that year, Rick and Rosario are brought back to reality. His post in Rome is ending and the CIA's calling him home. They start packing to go back to the U.S. later that month. But what Rick doesn't know is that back at CIA headquarters, his coworkers have realized something is wrong because more Soviet double agents keep dying. While the CIA isn't onto him just yet,

they figured out there's another mole or maybe a technical breach of some kind. Within two years of Rick's first betrayal, 10 people have been sentenced to death by the KGB. Still, Rick doesn't have the guilty conscience you might expect. He seems to think these people died as a result of being in a dangerous line of work and not because of his actions. Rick doesn't know it yet, but both the CIA and FBI have opened up parallel investigations to find the second mole.

And this time, they won't stop until they find him. Once Rick is back at home, his colleagues will be able to see firsthand that he's he's living beyond his means. And they'll start asking questions he can't answer. I'm Raza Jafri, and in the latest season of The Spy Who, we open the file on Morton Storm, the spy who lived inside Al-Qaeda. Unfulfilled with his life in a notorious Danish biker gang, Morton Storm is lost. One afternoon, he stumbles into a library looking for answers.

He finds them in the form of a book about Islam. The towering ginger-haired Dane doesn't know it yet, but that moment will hurl him into a world of radicalism and see him rise through the ranks of militant Islamist organization, Al-Qaeda, only to suffer a huge crisis of faith. He turns from devotee to spy, tasked with rooting out some of Al-Qaeda's most feared generals. The CIA and MI5 bid for his allegiance,

as he loses himself in a life of cash-laden suitcases, double crosses and betrayal. Follow The Spy Who on the Wondery app, or wherever you listen to podcasts, or you can binge the full season of The Spy Who Lived inside Al-Qaeda, early and ad-free with Wondery Plus. In the fall of 1620,

a battered merchant ship called the Mayflower set sail across the Atlantic. It carried 102 men, women, and children, risking it all to start again in the new world. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of American history tellers. Every week we take you through the moments that shaped America, and in our latest season,

we explore the untold story of the Pilgrims, one that goes far beyond the familiar tale of the first Thanksgiving. After landing at Cape Cod, the Pilgrims forged an unlikely alliance with the Wapenog people who helped the pilgrims survive the most brutal winter they'd ever known, laying the foundation for a powerful national myth, but behind that story lies another, one of conflict, betrayal, and brutal violence

against the very people who helped the Pilgrim survive. American History Tellers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of American History Tellers The Mayflower, early and ad-free, right now on Wondery Plus. I feel like a legend. It's late 1989, and Diana Worthen is driving down a tree-lined suburban street in North Arlington, Virginia. She's a longtime CIA officer with cropped blonde hair and a broad smile. Diana is here to visit her old friends Rick and Rosario who've just returned from their long stint in Italy.

She was stationed in Mexico City at the same time as Rick, and she's been a good friend of the couple ever since. Today, she's helping Rosario pick drapes for her new house. From the outside, Rick and Rosario seem like a pretty normal upper-middle-class family. Here's a picture of them and their son Paul from around this time. Sachi, can you describe it? So he kind of looks like Walt Disney now. He's got some big aviator glasses.

She looks great. She's wearing lots of jewelry and big sunglasses, and they look very moneyed and happy and normal and non-spy-like. Yeah, they seem so normal, which, as I know from the Americans, is how you get away with being dastardly double agents. But as Diana pulls into the... driveway, she's confused by what she sees. Before Rick and Rosario left for Italy, they lived in a modest one-bedroom apartment.

But their new home is a literal mansion in a bougie neighborhood with a $50,000 car out front. Diana spots contractors bringing in appliances for a massive kitchen renovation. And when she knocks on the door, a maid answers. It all feels weird to Diana, especially when Rosario and mentioned they paid over half a million dollars in cash for the house. Diana knows firsthand that the CIA doesn't pay that well. So after the visit, she shares her suspicions with a few of her colleagues, a small team of women at the CIA who've been working hard to find the mole.

They begin tracking Rick's car and even looking through his trash for any possible clues. But it all comes together when they get access to Rick's finances. As one of the women reviews his bank statements, she discovers a lot of unexplained cash going in and out of Rick's accounts. And most damning of all, when they compare his bank statements to his work calendar, they find that Rick made three big deposits immediately after meeting with his KGB sources back in 1985, the first time he sold CIA secrets. The truth hits Diana hard.

Her friend sold out his colleagues, causing multiple deaths, all so he could renovate a house and buy a jaguar. She doesn't hesitate. Rick made his choice, and now she's ready to make hers. It's time to turn him in. We're back to that cold February morning in 1994, and Rosario is in handcuffs on her front porch.

It's been over four years since Diana's visit to the Ames' house. The investigation into Rick and Rosario was slow for a bunch of reasons, including the fact that the CIA has, been busy. They're dealing with a fallout from the Iran-Contra affair, a massive scandal that revealed the U.S. was secretly providing Iran with weapons. It was so messy that some of the agents investigating Rick were indicted for their own crimes. This is what I love about when cops have to investigate other cops is that they can't because there are so much corruption within government

services that things like this happen. Yeah, and in fact, the CIA cops are so corrupt that the FBI has to step in to deal with the Ames. Rosario is being brought in on suspicion that she aided and abetted her husband's crimes. But over the coming months, she keeps repeating the same story. She didn't know anything about his involvement with the KGB until a year and a half ago when she happened to find a suspicious note about the embassy in his wallet. She couldn't make sense of it, and when she pressed him, he finally admitted he was working with the Russian.

She says that since then, she's been plagued with a moral dilemma. She wanted to report him, but she feared for her family's safety. But that's not what the CIA thinks, because wire-tapped conversations from the last five months seemed to show Rosario helping Rick. She was caught on tape, anxiously offering Rick advice about his crimes. So investigators are suspicious, and some even think she helped him hide his KGB money.

Here's one snippet of a phone call between the two. Could you read Rosario's lines? Rosario. Well, yeah, you're putting the bulk of the stuff in that suitcase, right? Rick. Sometimes, yeah, but I'm going to use the carry-on. Rosario. You are going to have to be a little more imaginative

about how you always have this envelope with this big hunk. I mean, really. To be clear, Rosario probably means big hunk of cash. Doesn't sound good for her. And two months later, when they have their day in court, the couple finally drops their pretences. Rick and Rosario both plead guilty to conspiring to commit espionage and tax fraud. Rick is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and Rosario gets just over five years. After a decade of selling CIA secrets and inadvertently ending at least 10 lives, Rick Ames is finally behind bars with

Rosario following suit. The CIA might regret giving Rick so many chances, but now that the truth is out, they're determined to make sure no one like him ever walks through their doors again. As of 2025, there isn't much of an update on the Ames family. At 84 years old, Rick is still in prison. Rosario was quietly released in 1998 after serving four years.

She's 72 today, but her whereabouts are unknown. After Rick's arrest, the CIA concluded that he, quote, caused more damage to the national security of the United States than any spy in the history of the CIA. And all these years later, Rick has apparently still never shown any remorse for betraying his country and causing the deaths of his coworkers. His only regret seems to be the fact that he got caught. All of this happened when the CIA was still a relatively young agency finding its footing. Rick's betrayal made it clear they needed stronger internal safeguards

to make sure something like this never happened again. To this day, Rick remains the highest-ranking CIA officer ever exposed as a double agent. After Rick's arrest, the CIA launched a massive internal investigation. And what they found was startling. almost no oversight and poor communication between the CIA and FBI. Rick wasn't exactly subtle, and yet he slipped through the cracks, turning his betrayal into yet another scandal for the CIA. In the end, the CIA did get an agent who fit into their boys' club.

They just didn't expect him to be working for another country. Sachi, what can you even say? There are so many layers to this. I don't even know where to start. I guess you could start with the stupidity. It's so dumb. Like, the scam was just that he was going to give up everything he had for, frankly, not a lot of money. He was selling enormous state secrets for like 20 grand.

It's just not enough. I guess it's like, it's so familiar, you know, as an independent contractor to know how much you're worth, where you're like, I can either make it so that they keep wanting to work with me and give them a good price, or I can stand up for myself and out. for what I'm worth, you know? Yeah, you know, it's good to ask. A closed mouth does not get fed, and that is the lesson of Rick. You know, the thing about Rick, that really makes us, like, a universal story is the level

of entitlement he had to be something. Kind of like, I don't want to be in the CIA, dad, I want to act, goes off, becomes an actor, ends up in the CIA, poor him. Failed upwards in such a way that even his colleagues were like, this makes no sense. Like, we know this place is a boys club, but why him? And he still had this really indignant view of things where this guy was like, no, I am the most important man in the world and I deserve more. He just wanted so much and also didn't go hard enough for how important he thought he was in a way. Yeah, he had a really profound level of delusion

matched with a total inability to do anything and sheer dumb luck. Like he really figured it out. and he probably could have gotten away with it 10 times over, but he was just so sloppy and stupid. From what I can tell, there was no actual plan. Even with his money, to my knowledge, he didn't try to launder the money in any way, like make it seem like it was coming from different sources. He went so hard, so fast upon coming back to the U.S.

that I'm like, how could you, on the one hand, be so reckless and, like, in a sense, brave to sell secrets and still be so bad at it. Clearly he doesn't give his shit about any of it, but I do agree that his only regret should be that he did such a bad job. I mean, I think he probably should have some regrets a few times over, but chief amongst them was the lack of organization.

And the fact that he probably could have done this scam better and bigger and braver and gotten away with it, but he didn't because he was lazy. I do think there's an element of this where he could have just testified his actions by being like, I work for the CIA. People are getting killed because of me no matter what. May as well make a buck off it. Why even, like, defect?

Go abroad. Like, you know, come on. The thing about Rick, I guess, is that he so clearly believed in nothing except himself. Like, he didn't believe in country. He didn't believe in government. He didn't believe in infrastructure. He didn't believe in the secrets. He didn't believe in the Soviets either.

He didn't believe in anything other than his own ability to get rich. and be feted. And that is, I think, one of the worst kinds of scammers that we have, Sarah, are like straight white men who believe in themselves so much. Yes.

And they have no other value system. What do you think his wife knew and when do you think she figured it out? You know, it seems like he just didn't give a shit at all that, like, why would he be so good at hiding it from his wife? Who clearly does align with him in some way where the most important thing to her was Rick and his money and changing her life.

to be with him that I wouldn't be surprised if she had known the whole time or maybe like a year into it, but she's not a dumbass, you know, she was smart enough to be working as a cultural attaché at the age of 29 as a woman. She's no dummy, you know? I think she knew pretty early on and I don't know how much it bothered her. It was clearly easy enough that it was out in the open that they could talk about it. The conspiracy-brained part of myself believes that there was probably more to this story than we will ever know. Because think about how embarrassing, how deeply embarrassing it is for the CIA and the FBI.

I guess the moral of the story is that you shouldn't be a spy and you shouldn't keep secrets and you should tell everybody everything all the time. The moral of the story, do not be an agent, do not become a spy. Don't get involved in this world. There are ways you can be deceptive and lie to people and be well-known and celebrated. And you know what it's called? Reality TV.

It's called the traitors. It's called Survivor. It's called Big Brother. It's just gossip. Everything's gossip. It is all just gossip, I agree. Loving scam influencers, get exclusive episodes and early access to new ones all ad-free on Wondry Plus. Join now in the Wendry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Before you go, help us out by taking a quick survey at Wendry.com slash survey. This is Rick Ames, the spy who told too much. I'm Sarah Hagee. And I'm Sachi Cole. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at scamfluencers at wendry.com. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were

The Spy and the Jaguire by David Wise for Vanity Fair. Why I Spied by Tim Weiner. Sellout, Aldridge Ames and the corruption of the CIA by James Adams. Killer Spy, the Inside Story of, the FBI's pursuit and capture of Aldrich Ames, America's deadliest spy, by Peter Moss. Betrayal, the story of Aldrich Ames, an American spy by Tim Wiener, David Johnson,

and Neil A. Lewis, Nightmover, how Aldrich Ames sold the CIA to the KGB for $4.6 million by David Wise, and The Terrible Secret of Rosario Ames by Sally Quinn for the Washington Post. Gabrielle-Drollet wrote this episode, additional writing by us, Satchie Cole, and Sarah Haggy.

Olivia Briley is our story editor Fact-checking by Kalina Newman Sound designed by James Morgan Additional audio assistance provided by Augustine Lim Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Frieson Sink Our managing producer is Desi Blaylock

Janine Cornelow and Stephanie Jens are our development producers Our associate producer is Charlotte Miller Our senior producers are Sarah Eni and Ginny Bloom Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marshall Louis for Wondery.